Well, folks, we may be entering a sugar crisis. How do I know? I watched this video clip starring guest Marion Nestle.
My dream has come true: my husband may have to eat fruit instead of chocolate, juice instead of soda, ice water (gasp!) instead of ice cream...
Parents may have to give their children fruit and vegetables as snacks instead of ice cream and chips and Twinkies........
.....like this poor little girl (photographed in my hometown!) that someone brought to my attention recently:
I don't typically post pictures like this, but the image has been stuck in my mind for days and it's an important one. A child does NOT gain this kind of weight normally. I read a statistic recently that out of all children born after the year 2000, one in three are expected to develop diabetes. This is NOT normal! Sugar and junk food have EVERYTHING to do with this! Kids don't gain this kind of weight eating healthy meals. Parents not only have the power to help their children eat healthy, it is a responsibility. In my opinion, the amount of junk food that kids are typically allowed to eat is a form of child abuse. Kids are getting addicted (physically and emotionally) to sugar at an early age and gaining weight and developing early on-set diabetes. WHAT?! Not my kids. This topic is open to discussion, and as always, there are certain exceptions here, but not many. The number of overweight children in the US is staggering, not to mention that roughly 1/3 of all Americans are overweight.
We have a national health crisis on our hands (heart disease, obesity, diabetes, to name a few) and the fact that there may be less sugar available for those outrageously cheap prices really blesses my heart.
5 comments:
I don't deny there is a diabetes crisis in this country and this child does look quite overweight. However, do we know if she may have a medical condition aside from being overweight? I had a cousin that went through chemo at about the age of this child and she was large like this due to steroids used...
I am just saying we can't always jump to conclusions...oh, and also it might be good to blur the face of a little girl you wish to make a poster child of all you feel is wrong...especially of a child that you likely don't have parental permissions to post....
d.lallie-
Thank you for commenting. I think you have excellent points, however here is more information about the picture:
The orignial URL of the photographer who took the picture is(http://www.flickr.com/photos/thaen/3835252364)
Note the photographer's comments.
I made two observations about this picture which caused me to suspect there is a problem: she is too big to be in a stroller AND she is eating an ice cream cone.
I've been to the National Zoo several times recently and the thing that strikes me are the number of children too old to be in strollers, not only sitting in strollers but eating junk food.
I find myself struggling with what to do when I see things like this. It's not "okay" to approach parents anymore and offer suggestions or have a conversation. People are so easily offended these days. I struggle with HOW to tackle issues like childhood obesity and feel like awareness and discussion are steps in the right direction.
Woah. Don't really have much else to say about the child in the stroller. Did you see this article, Is Child Obesity Child Abuse?
http://news.aol.com/health/article/555-pound-boy/581522?icid=main|netscape|dl4|link2|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Fhealth%2Farticle%2F555-pound-boy%2F581522
Whether that little girl has a medical condition or not, that photo makes my heart ache for her.
Drea-That article is really, really interesting. It's a great topic of conversation, and I don't necessarily think there are cut and dry answers.
cathryn-Mine, too. It definitely motivates me to participate in coming up with solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic...
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